What Joe Says - November 23

On the Georgia game: “First of all, it is going to be tough. With so much riding on the Wake Forest game and to go into that game and lose it. If you could ant any other game after a game like that, it would be Georgia . It’s our last game in Grant Field this year, and it being Georgia, I don’t think there will be any problem with us getting up for that game.

On Quincy Carter: We took some pictures for the AJC and there were some pretty good vibes there. But I don’t call him and he doesn’t call me. I don’t see him around as far as just calling and having a friendship. We don’t have any of that.

I really haven’t heard many comparisons. I don’t get involved in that. Quincy runs a different style offense than we run here. He’s doing a great job for the offense at Georgia.

It’s been exciting and challenging. Each year and each practice, Coach Friedgen has got a new wrinkle, new jobs and new reads. The offense itself has been competitive and challenging. To be in a system like this where a guy has won and has been there before and the things that he has accomplished, you look back and see that you have learned a lot.

When I first came here I didn’t understand the Georgia-Georgia Tech rivalry. I knew it was a big game. Now after being here for five years, seeing the atmosphere and the intensity. It is all you could want in a college football game. It’s the state championship here. I have really started to take pride in trying to beat Georgia. It’s not anything like some of the guys from Georgia getting in to it, its just a game that I really want to win. I think that is the bottom line.

That’s what it is all about. A game that has a lot of hype for it. So many games that are hyped up to be good games, don’t really turn out that way. But the last few years with Georgia has been a real good game. Last year unfortunately we weren’t able to come out on top. That’s what you really want, is a good close game between rivals. I expect nothing less this year. It’s going to be the team that really wants it the most and executes well. Everybody is going to be really hyped up to play the game. It’s going to be the team that takes advantage of the opportunities and scores points.

I think we will be bale to rebound. As far as Saturday, after the team meeting on Sunday, we forgot all about it.. Make no bones about it, Wake Forest was very disappointing for us. There is nothing we can do about it now. We just have to get ready for the game that is coming up. We let one slip by, but we are going to correct it with a win against Georgia. Everything will be back to normal on Saturday.

Last year as a freshman, Quincy came in and did things that they didn’t really expect him to do. He really excelled. He’s the focal point of their offense and he has been able to get the ball to the right people at the right time. He’s a really good quarterback and he has been able to lead his team to several victories. It’s a gradual process of recruiting and putting guys in the right place at the right time. I was able to come along at a time when I could help them out.

Your last game in Grant Field playing Georgia and you are a senior, you couldn’t write a better script. But you have to go out there and play the game. Definitely it is a real good script laid out that Georgia is the last game of your career, but you don’t want to come off the field a loser.

It’s kind of how the fans react. I have no problems shaking his hands and telling him good game and best of luck in the future. I respect Quincy as a quarterback and as a person. I hope he feels the same things for me. But I want to win real bad and he wants to win real bad. But it’s due respect to congratulate him after the game and talk about the game. But it depends on what happens after the game and how things unfold.

That’s a part of the excitement of a big game. It probably wasn’t something that you want to do in an opponents back yard that you are going to see again the next year because they are going to remember. But it was just a heat of the moment type thing and we got caught up in the excitement. It was a big game and you can’t control an emotional type game like that. It was something we wouldn’t do again, but we just did it at that time.

On Quincy Carter: Quincy is a competitor. I don’t know what changed his decision. But if I wanted to go to a school where a guys was already starting at quarterback and I would have to sit out or one where I could start right away, that would be an easy decision. I don’t think that his decision was based on the fact that I was here, because he is a competitor. If he really wanted to come to Georgia Tech, he would have tried to compete for the job.

From that game on and after the bowl game and during the summer, whenever we would talk about football, we would talk about the Georgia game and how good it felt. The drive is just the fact that we can do everything we can do and leave everything on the field. It’s a game you want to be a part of. We are going to hit and they are going to hit and the fans are going to be a part of it. Hopefully it can go our way.

On last year’s win over Georgia: We did it. I wasn’t one of those guys who said it didn’t sink in until the next day. It sunk in right away that we did it. It’s a great feeling. That’s why I feel that we acted some ways that we wouldn’t act again. It was just the spirit of the moment. I hope it can get better this year but it was a great feeling this year.

On the Heisman campaign: “It’s been all I could ask for so far. It has been all I could want it has just been exciting. I wouldn’t take any of it back. “My first thought was, was I deserving. Could I really do this, could I really be a Heisman Trophy candidate. The you realize that all you can do is go out and play your game. You just go out and help your team win.

“I don’t think I should be talking a bout it. To an extent it can bring negative vibes to the team. But this is it, this is the last game of the regular season and a big game. It’s for all the marbles.

I think anything that is in the back of your mind that could take you off of Georgia can be laid aside for a couple of days and hopefully after Saturday, it will all be worth it.

“All season you really don’t want to talk about it. After the Georgia game it is really over and you just have to see if you did all you could do. You have to say that you played the best that you could, whether you win the trophy or not.

“I go out there to put our team position to be successful. It’s out of my hands. All I can do is try to play the best that I can play.

On Alvin and the unveiling of a highway sign in his honor Monday: “I really thought about things. That’s exciting to know that you bring some attention bask to a place where really nothing happens. Now the excitement that they feel back there. I look back and see that there is something that they can be proud of.

“A lot of people turned out for the ceremony yesterday. They put a sign coming in from both ways. They gave my mother a little sign to some. There was excitement around Alvin to have the excitement and the people coming in. It has been a long road and a lot of work, but it has been worth it.

“If you could see the type of people that came from Alvin, it’s exciting to know that you can put that type of town on the map. To see the excitement they are having, that is very gratifying.

You just do what you have to do and let every thing take care of itself. I just went to college and spent five years just trying to improve every year. And after you do that you can live with yourself.

When you leave, you want to say how much did I improve and did I improve every year. That’s all you can ask for, just to go out there and try to do the best that you can.

On Tim Brown and former Heisman winners: “He did a lot of good and exciting things. He scored, he did everything he could to put his team in a position to win. He was the best player in the nation.

You never know what they are looking for. You never what the writers are thinking or what they are looking for in a player. They might be looking for a Ron Dayne type person or they might be looking for Drew Brees. You never know. You have no control over it at all. A decision like that that is out of your hands. You can’t even hold your head down when your name is not called.

Sometimes they overlook the guys who consistently put up numbers and take the guy who was spectacular in one or two games.